The Three Keys - The Third Key (House Item)
}} Book Text This book is titled "The Three Keys - the Third". It is the story of a small girl by the name of Aiven and what happens to her when she unlocks the third and final door. "But what about the third key?" she said, "What could this one possibly open?" The old centaur looked at her with a stony gaze and said, "This one unlocks your fate". Those words were enough to spark Aiven's curiosity once again. She had to know what the final key opened. Aiven told the centaur that she wanted to see what the last key unlocked. The centaur said in a warningly, "That doorway is not for little girls. Some things are better left unknown". She insisted, however, until the centaur finally relented and told her to climb up onto his back. He told her to close her eyes as they traveled. She felt the centaur begin to gallop, and waited impatiently. At least had the decency to let her see where they were going. After a short while, she risked a peek. All around her was a vibrant storm of colors, violently swirling in a chaotic maelstrom. She quickly shut her eyes again and refused to open them for the rest of the journey. What seemed like an eternity later, the centaur said, "We are here." Where there were once swarming colors, all that remained was the pair, a door, and an endless field of white. Aiven asked where they were, but the centaur just looked at her dispassionately. Aiven realized he was waiting for her to unlock the door, so she obliged. As she was about to open the door, then centaur said, "It is not too late, child. I can take you home. I fear for what you will find inside, child." Aiven told the centaur, "I can't stop now." I'm going to find out what my fate is. And with that, the centaur vanished. She knew it was now or never, and opened the door. Inside she saw an immense room, oozing with darkness. Aiven summoned all of her courage, and stepped through the door. It didn't take long for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. It took a few moments more for her to realize she could see in perfect darkness. As a matter of fact, there were a number of odd things happening. For one, she felt like she was taller and her muscles ached. Another thing was that she was dressed in an odd robe and had a number of different interesting objects hanging from her sash. The most interesting thing was when she looked into a nearby hanging mirror, she saw that she had the face of an old woman. Before she realized what was happening, she began walking to a massive door made from the blackest metal she had ever seen. She moved her hand in an odd manner and the door exploded into a thousand pieces. She then called out in an old, yet steady voice, "I am here, fiend! This world is not yours, it is ours! I may not be able to stop you, but I WILL slow you down." With that, a figure materialized in front of her... formed of a darkness unlike anything she had seen before. The figure of pure darkness spoke, "You have refused our offers. You have destroyed our towers. You have entered our lands." It continued, "By my hands, it is your time to suffer... for all eternity", at which point Aiven presented forth a glimmering sphere. "No... you cannot know of that", the form screamed, "Two hundred thousand years and no one knows of that!!!" Aiven replied, "I remembered it from when I was a child." At that moment the sphere in her hands started glowing white. "Finding this wasn't hard, fiend," said Aiven as the sphere's glow intensified, "What was difficult is letting go of the keys I held onto for all those years." The sphere was now as bright as the sun. "As a matter of fact, even what I'm about to do isn't as hard as letting go of those keys. For you see, I know for a fact that this is where it ends." With that, she took a deep breath, exhaled, and the sphere exploded with the intensity of a thousand suns instantly dying. Aiven was shaken awake by her mother. "I was worried sick, Aiven!", she yelled, "I thought you were taken by the nomads!". Looking around, she realized she had dozed off beneath a tree on their farm. She told her mother she had the oddest dream, to which her mother said, "Don't believe any of that nonsense. No one ever got far by believing in silly dreams. Now you had better clean up before we eat dinner, do you hear me?". Aiven nodded her head and went back to the house to wash up. But first, she stopped by her room, took something from her pocket, and placed them under her pillow - three keys of copper, silver, and gold. THE END Credits